Hot fuse box

Here is what I'm working with.
Just bought a new dryer hooked wires up correctly to dryer three prong.
dryer runs to old pushmatic breaker (twin 30 I believe) well the dryer keeps kicking off one side of the breaker on occasion ,the dryer keeps running with no heat.Also the box with push breaker hums a little sort of like a florescent bulb just starting, in conjunction with all this the main in the fuse box is getting very very hot ,so hot you can't touch it and you can smell an electrical burn sort of.
Yes it is a"fuse box" with screw in fuses.
So what's the deal why is it getting so hot ? it didn't do it on the old dryer but now it is ,anyone have any ideas??It only gets hot when the dryer is running.
Please note I have an electric stove as well not on same circuit but same box I wonder if running both at same time is problem??

Already have have !!
Was wondering if anyone knew what was causing it so when the electrician comes I might know if he's telling me the right thing.Don't want some fellow coming in and blowing me a bunch of smoke and try to sale me things I don't need.
So the question is does anyone have an idea as to why this would do what it's doing???

One or the other of us are confused. How can you have a "high current" through "high resistance"?

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This was my thinking too in a past post but I just got ridiculed about ohm's law instead of educated.

If the resistance goes up wouldn't the amperage go up? If not, why do burned connections often cause so much heat that the insulation burns off the wires. Wouldn't it take high amps to burn insulation?

"Hot fuse box" puts me in mind of a practical course in electronics I took, and lesson one (Ohm's Law) touched on fuse box fires. About a year later, in an old rented house, I heard a sort of sputtering/hissing kind of noise in the basement, and it came from a fused control box for an electric water heater. Just like in the lesson, a bad contact was becoming resistive, and building up heat. Got my money's worth on that course.

One or the other of us are confused. How can you have a "high current" through "high resistance"?

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jwelectric; I was replying to your statement: "Heat means current so the simple answer is something for some reason is drawing to much current."

My complete statement was: "Excessive heat is often caused by high current through a high resistance contact. The current may be within limits."

If you have a 5500 watt dryer that is drawing 5500 Watts /240 Volts = 23 Amps and about 10.5 Ohms of resistance, and you add about 0.5 Ohm with a bad contact or connection somewhere in the circuit, you will still have about 22 Amps. Therefore, the current is not excessive; it is within the expected limits of the circuit.

However, there is a lot of heating in the connection that has the high resistance. Since power = Amps squared x Ohms; there would in that case be 22x22x0.5 = 242 Watts being dissipated in that junction. That is a lot of heat in a bad connection.

That 242 Watts is what I was referring to when I said: "Excessive heat is often caused by high current through a high resistance contact. The current may be within limits."

There IS excessive heat in the junction, AND the current is within limits.

Q.E.D.

quod erat demonstrandum, which is to say literally, "which was to be demonstrated", and figuratively, "I rest my case".

If the resistance goes up wouldn't the amperage go up? If not, why do burned connections often cause so much heat that the insulation burns off the wires. Wouldn't it take high amps to burn insulation?

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Well letâ€™s see what Bob has to say about the increase in resistance and the effect it has on amperage.

My complete statement was: "Excessive heat is often caused by high current through a high resistance contact. The current may be within limits."

If you have a 5500 watt dryer that is drawing 5500 Watts /240 Volts = 23 Amps and about 10.5 Ohms of resistance, and you add about 0.5 Ohm with a bad contact or connection somewhere in the circuit, you will still have about 22 Amps. Therefore, the current is not excessive; it is within the expected limits of the circuit.

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As can be seen by the example that Bob posted above he added half a ohm and the amperage dropped from 23 down to 22.
The more resistance the less amperage as shown here
E=IXR
120 volts divided by 10 ohms equals 12 amps
120 volts divided by 100 ohms equals 1.2 amps
It is clear that when the resistance is increased the amperage drops.

Well let’s see what Bob has to say about the increase in resistance and the effect it has on amperage.
As can be seen by the example that Bob posted above he added half a ohm and the amperage dropped from 23 down to 22.
The more resistance the less amperage as shown here
E=IXR
120 volts divided by 10 ohms equals 12 amps
120 volts divided by 100 ohms equals 1.2 amps
It is clear that when the resistance is increased the amperage drops.

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The amperage drops but that isn't the point!

The point is that high resistance at a connection in the "fuse box" would cause high heating in the "fuse box", which is the symptom that the original poster observed. That cause would result in high heating even though that high resistance reduces the current in the circuit.

The original poster was talking about a dryer, that operates on 240 Volts. The fact that the amperage drops with higher resistance at a connection in the fuse box is true but doesn't affect the conclusion because the consequece of that high resistance is to cause heating in the fuse box at the location of the high resistance.

In fact, if you do the arithmetic you will find that the heating in the fuse box will increase with greater contact resistance in the fuse box until the resistance at the connection reaches the resistance of the dryer load.

The real fact is that the statement by jwelectric that "Heat means current so the simple answer is something for some reason is drawing to much current." is not supported by the evidence or by any analysis that jwelectric has provided. The "simple answer" is simply wrong!

Well ,Talk with the electrician last night and have decided to upgrade my house from 60amp. service to 100amp. service,do away with the fuse box all together and put in new box with breakers.
I think it will help when I go to sale the place.
From what everyone tells me it has to be upgraded anyway in order to qualify for FHA loans (if someone wants to buy it that way).
Dryer was hooked up right.
Think problem was running two appliances at same time(dryer and stove both 30amp.) along with everything else,perhaps just pulling too much on that old 60amp.system,I know it should be able to handle it but the house was built in the 40's so I reckon it's a little tired.
Thanks for input fellows.

The amperage drops but that isn't the point!
The point is that high resistance at a connection in the "fuse box" would cause high heating in the "fuse box", which is the symptom that the original poster observed. That cause would result in high heating even though that high resistance reduces the current in the circuit.

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I think what you meant to say here is that arcing due to a lose connection will cause a breaker to increase in heat.

The original poster was talking about a dryer, that operates on 240 Volts. The fact that the amperage drops with higher resistance at a connection in the fuse box is true but doesn't affect the conclusion because the consequece of that high resistance is to cause heating in the fuse box at the location of the high resistance.

In fact, if you do the arithmetic you will find that the heating in the fuse box will increase with greater contact resistance in the fuse box until the resistance at the connection reaches the resistance of the dryer load.

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As with a gas welder the acetylene will not do much by itself but add a little oxygen and the heat is a lot greater.
Did we start using more acetylene? No. We only added oxygen to the formula.
This is the same in an arcing event. The ionization of the atmosphere around an arc is what causes the heat not more resistance.

The real fact is that the statement by jwelectric that "Heat means current so the simple answer is something for some reason is drawing to much current." is not supported by the evidence or by any analysis that jwelectric has provided. The "simple answer" is simply wrong!

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I believe if we read the original post again we can easily find that the problem is without a doubt something that he did in his installation.

Have problem with fuse box getting very hot.
Here is what I'm working with.
Just bought a new dryer hooked wires up correctly to dryer three prong.
dryer runs to old pushmatic breaker (twin 30 I believe) well the dryer keeps kicking off one side of the breaker on occasion ,the dryer keeps running with no heat.

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As can be seen the use of a three wire receptacle makes the installation non compliant. The fact that only half of the overcurrent device is opening says a lot in and of itself. The heating element of a dryer is 240 volts while most dryers have a 120 volt motor therefore the heat will drop out while the motor is still running.

The fact that one overcurrent is tripping and the main overcurrent is heating up leads me to believe that something is wired improperly which is causing a high current draw. If the heat was limited to only one overcurrent device I might agree that a lose connection might be the problem as the arcing would only affect the area of the lose connection and not the entire system.
Now back to my original post;

Dryer was hooked up right.
Think problem was running two appliances at same time(dryer and stove both 30amp.) along with everything else,perhaps just pulling too much on that old 60amp.system,I know it should be able to handle it but the house was built in the 40's so I reckon it's a little tired.
Thanks for input fellows.

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First if the dryer was on a three wire receptacle it was not hooked up right.
Are both the dryer and stove on the same circuit?

Dryer was hooked up right.
Think problem was running two appliances at same time(dryer and stove both 30amp.) along with everything else,perhaps just pulling too much on that old 60amp.system,I know it should be able to handle it but the house was built in the 40's so I reckon it's a little tired.

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This is my opinion ,not the electricians and I'm not an electrician obviously but if you could see what I have at my house you would say "change that old junk out"

Regardless I really need the 100 amp.service for selling purposes and if the dryer isn't wired right it'll trip the new breaker won't it??

Maybe and maybe not.
The one thing you have pointed out is the use of a three wire receptacle for the dryer. When you change the panel be sure to install a four wire circuit for the dryer and remove the bonding strip in the back of the dryer.